Shipwrecks Since 1833

The Titanic isn't the only notable shipwreck (though it is famous for crashing into an iceberg on April 15, 1912, killing over 1,500 people). The Lusitania, a British luxury liner, was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, killing 1,195 people. Joola, a Senegalese ferry, sunk in 2002, drowning 1,863 people.

1833

May 11, Lady of the Lake:
bound from England to Quebec, struck iceberg; 215
perished.

Nov. 21, Britannic:
sister ship of the Titanic sank in the Aegean Sea after an
explosion. The vessel, which had been converted to a hospital ship
during World War I, probably collided with an underwater mine. Of the
more than 1,100 people aboard, only 30 died.

Jan. 30, Wilhelm Gustloff:
cruise ship carrying German refugees and soldiers sunk
by Soviet submarine in Baltic. It is thought
that as many as 10,000 people were aboard, of which only about 900
survived.

June 21, the Philippines: a ferry, the Princess
of the Stars, is struck by Typhoon Fengshen, killing most of the 800
passengers and crew.

Nov. 9, the Sea of Japan: in the most deadly
accident on a Russian submarine since 2000, 20 people die and 21 more
are injured when two compartments of a new Russian nuclear submarine
flood with Freon gas during tests in the Sea of Japan.

Dec. 5, Antarctic penninsula: more than 80
passengers and 30 crew members were evacuated from a luxury Antarctic
cruise ship when the ship hit a rock and became stuck on the Antarctic
Peninsula, over 150 miles southwest of Argentina.

2009

Jan. 11, Indonesia: a passenger ferry MV Teratai Prima carrying 267 capsizes during a cyclone off the coast of Sulawesi. About 40 people, including the captain, are rescued.

March 27, Libya: a boat designed to hold 75 sinks with more than 250 migrants headed to Europe on board. Twenty survivors are rescued.

Sept. 9, Sierra Leone: the ferry Teh Teh sinks during a storm with more than 250 on board, many of them schoolchildren and their parents on their way to Freetown to start the new school year. Forty people are rescued.

2010

May 8, New York: the Staten Island ferry Andrew J. Barberi crashes into the terminal after losing brake power. Thirty six people are injured.

July 7, Philadelphia: an amphibious tourist boat, or duck boat, stalls in the Delaware River and is struck by a sludge-carrying barge. All 37 people on board are thrown into the water; 35 are recovered alive, while 2 Hungarian tourists are missing.

March 11, Pacific Rim: an undetermined number of vessels sink following a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan.

April 6, Italy: more than 250 Libyan migrants are missing after a boat carrying men, women, and children capsizes off the coast of Lampedusa.

2012

Jan. 13, Italy: the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia capsizes near the Tuscan coast. There are 4,200 passengers on board. At least 11 people are killed and dozens missing. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, reportedly changed course to sail closer to shore to show off the luxury liner. In addition, he is accused of abandoning the ship after the crash.

2013

October 3, Mediterranean: at least 94 people are dead and another 250 are missing after a boat capsizes in the Mediterranean near the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. The boat, carrying African migrants to Europe, sinks after passengers light a blanket on fire to signal their position. The fire spreads from the blanket to gasoline, creating a panic that sinks the boat. It is the worst boating accident of its kind in the region.

2014

April 16, South Korea: a ferry carrying 459 people, mostly students from Danwon High School, sinks off the southern coast of South Korea. When the ship begins sinking, the ship's captain, Lee Jun-seok, is not at the helm. Instead, the third mate is steering the ship. Lee is taken into custody. There are 146 confirmed deaths with more than 150 people still missing.

2015

April 19, Mediterranean: a ship carrying 850 migrants sinks off the coast of Libya. Many are trapped in the ship at the bottom of the sea. According to a statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the ship carried 850 people and only 28 are known to have survived. It is the deadliest incident in the Mediterranean involving refugees.